India aim for a clean sweep

N. Ananthanarayanan

A rare test win for India abroad has raised hopes that the team can complete their first series victory outside the sub-continent in 15 years.

India's eight-wicket defeat of Zimbabwe in the first test on Sunday won cautious praise from former players and the media, long used to success at home but inconsistency overseas.

The second match of the two-test series starts in Harare on Friday.

India had won only 14 of 158 matches played abroad going into the Bulawayo test.

Since a 2-0 triumph in England in 1986, India's only two test wins away have come in Sri Lanka in 1993, with a 1-0 success in a three-match series, and Bangladesh, in a one-off game against the test debutants in Dhaka late last year.

However, buoyed by their 2-1 home series victory over Australia earlier this year India are determined to avenge their loss in a one-off test in Zimbabwe three years ago.

Young left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra, who played his only previous test two years ago, took five wickets and led a three-pronged pace attack that claimed 13 victims.

The much-criticised fielding was also sharp. Wicket-keeper Samir Dighe and Rahul Dravid achieved run outs with direct hits and Sadagopan Ramesh took two brilliant catches fielding close in.

"Earlier it was like one player gets 150 and others nothing. They did not perform as a team," former test batsman Yashpal Sharma told Reuters.

BOWLING WOES

Sharma said in the past decade Indian bowlers had struggled abroad even when batsmen, experienced on slow turning pitches, had played well.

He felt the team had missed a genuine all-rounder since Kapil Dev's retirement in 1994.

Sharma added that India would be further strengthened when leg spinner Anil Kumble, out of action since last October with a shoulder injury, returned later this year.

Kumble, India's second-highest test wicket-taker with 275 victims behind Kapil's 434, is recovering after shoulder surgery in January.

The Indian batting has also been bolstered by young opener Shiv Sundar Das, who scored an unbeaten 82 in Bulawayo.

Das, 23, has scored 508 runs in seven tests at an average of 46.18. Since his debut series against Bangladesh last October he has hit a century and three fifties.

The team's turn-around coincides with the appointment of New Zealander John Wright, who took over as India's first foreign coach late last year.

Wright guided India to a 1-0 win in a two-test series against Zimbabwe at home last November before leading them to victory over Australia.

The players have responded to their coach's call for a return to the basics, stressing the importance of fitness, fielding and running between the wickets.

Mail Cricket Editor